502 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Aug-. 8, 1901. 



enough to know that they can't get along without drones ; 

 but they don't seem to have enough of it to guide them to 

 the fact that more than enough is too many. However, 

 let us get down to business, Mr. Bond. 



" I wish you to take a good look at this drone-comb and 

 the brood in it, and compare it with the worker-brood just 

 above it. You can easily see the difference in appearance, 

 so that you will always know the one kind from the other. 

 The principal distinction between them is, that the drone- 

 comb projects out beyond the surface of the worker-comb. 

 And that enables me, when I am destroying drone-brood, to 

 slice oft the heads of the matured but unhatched drones 

 with my sharp, thin-bladed honey-knife, without injuring 

 any of the worker-brood." 



" That looks easy enough." remarked Mr. Bond, after 

 seeing me perform the operation. " But, how do you get 

 the beheaded drones out of the cells ?" 



" I don't try to get them out. The bees can do that, so 

 I simply replace the frames as they are, and close the hive. 

 Before sunset you will find most of those headless corpses 

 out in front of the hive. How they manage to drag them 

 out of the cells I don't know, never having watched them 

 at the work. 



" But here is another thing that I want you to look at, 

 Mr. Bond," I said, holding the frame in my hand up before 

 him and pointing to three queen-cells on one side of the 

 comb. You told me yesterday that you had never seen a 

 queen-cell. Hereafter you will always know one when you 

 see it." 



" So those queer-looking things are queen-cells," said 

 Mr. Bond, meditatively. " Well, I declare I I never thought 

 they were anywhere near so large — nearly the size of a 

 small sewing-thimble, and full of little holes on the outside, 

 too. Does the old queen build those cells?" 



" The question took me by surprise, coming as it did 

 from a man past middle age, and in dead earnest, too. 

 But I repressed a strong inclination to smile, and told him 

 the truth about the matter : 



" No," I said, " the old queen has nothing whatever to 

 do with it, except to lay the eggs from which the young 

 (jueens develop. The worker-bees build the queen-cells, 

 and when they are completed they fill them with bee-food, 

 or royal jelly, as bee-keepers usually call it. The cells are 

 then sealed up at the small end and the queen-larva lives 

 on that jelly and grows until it is able to eat or gnaw 

 itself free, and soon after crawls out to begin her career as 

 a queen." 



" Do you mean to tell me that a queen grows from the 

 same kind of an egg that a drone or a worker comes 

 from ?" asked Mr. Bond, somewhat excitedly. 



" Yes, and no, Mr. Bond," I replied. "A queen is reared 

 from the same kind of an egg that produces a worker under 

 ordinary treatment — that is, when reared in an ordinary 

 brood-cell. Both are female eggs, but the workers are 

 undeveloped female bees. But the drones are reared from 

 male eggs. A fertilized queen can lay both kinds ; and 

 either kind at will."' 



" How do you mean that ?" queried Mr. Bond. 



" By that I mean that a laying queen can lay either 

 female or male eggs, as she pleases. When she inserts the 

 small end of her body into a worker-cell she usually depos- 

 its a worker-egg ; and when she deposits an egg in a drone- 

 cell it is seldom a female egg. That's the whole story, Mr. 

 Bond ; but it's a long way from being an explanation of 

 the mystery, or, if you prefer, the philosophy, of the fact. 



Mr. Bond looked very serious as he remarked, " I 

 didn't think those things were possible. I begin to see 

 that I know as little about bees as I do about bee-keeping. 

 I see now, that to be really successful with a hundred colo- 

 nies I must first learn how to manage one colony, up-to- 

 date, as the saying goes. 



"But tell me, please," queried Mr. Bond, "what are 

 you going to do with those queen-cells ?" 



" I am going to put the frame they are on back in its 

 place in the hive," I replied. "One of the young queens is 

 beginning to gnaw the cap oft her cell, you see " — showing 

 him the cell, on the small end of which a slight movement 

 was discernible — "and she will be making an inspection 

 tour of the hive before to-morrow noon, I think. She will 

 have to be watched or she'll destroy the other two young 

 queens in their cells." 



(To be continued.) 



I (iuestions and Answers. | 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. C. C AIILLER. afareng-o. 111. 



(The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal oflBce, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor.1 



Advice to Beginners. 



If you want to be in the front rank as a bee-keeper, you 

 will do well to inform yourself upon all phases of bee-keep- 

 ing. Some of you make the mistake of thinking. " Oh, that 

 subject, or the other subject connected with bee-keeping, 

 may be well enough for those particularly interested in that 

 direction, but it doesn't come in my line, and I'll not waste 

 reading it. " And so you miss reading some of the very 

 things you most need. 



" How do I know you don't read everything ?" I'll tell 

 you how I know. Nearly every week — well, say once in 

 two weeks — I get a question from some one when that 

 question was answered not two months before. This sum- 

 mer the question that has come oftener than any other is 

 the one referring to swarms absconding after being hived ; 

 and many has been the swarm lost because the loser didn't 

 think he needed to know anything about absconding 

 swarms until he had one of his own abscond. 



Now, I don't want to choke you off from asking ques- 

 tions in the least ; some of you don't do as much of it as 

 you ought ; but I want to suggest that you would be the 

 gainers if you would read up in advance what is written for 

 others. 



Not so very long ago it was said to me, " I suppose you 

 don't read a large portion of what you find in the American 

 Bee Journal." That supposition could not have been wider 

 of the mark. Except what was written by myself, I dare 

 not omit the reading of any word. The short letter 

 from some beginner may have no word of information to 

 pay for the trouble of reading it, and then again one time 

 out of a hundred it may ; and I don't know which one out 

 of the hundred may give some hint of value ; so the only 

 safe plan is to read the whole hundred. C. C. Miller. 



Swarms Absconding from the Hives. 



The Premiums offered this week are well wot-th work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



Can you give any information about bees leaving the 

 hive after hiving them ? I have lost about half the swarms 

 this year in that way. Wisconsin. 



Answer. — The absconding of swarms this year seems 

 to be unusual. Doubtless it is on account of the unusual 

 heat. Do all you can to keep your swarms cool by shading 

 and plenty of ventilation. Raise the hive on blocks, and 

 for a few days let the hive-cover be partly off. 



Painting Barrels for Hoiding Honey. 



Will it do any good to paint alcohol barrels that I 

 intend to use for holding extracted honey ? 



Minnesota. 



Answer. — 1 don't know. I doubt if it will pay, and 

 will be glad to be corrected if I am wrong. 



Slie Has Troul)les of Her Own. 



I winter my bees in a shed, long and narrow with a 

 door in the west end. I pack them in as warm as possible, 

 and open the door on pleasant days. Last winter I put in 

 10 colonies, part Italians and part blacks. I gave the Ital- 

 ians the warmest places, and near the door where it was 

 almost to the cold I placed a strong black colony. Last 

 spring, on taking them out, the colonies near the door were 

 just overflowing with bees, both blacks and Italians, while 

 some of the other colonies seemed to have scarcely bees 

 enough to keep them warm. One Italian colony, espe- 

 cially, had a queen and a mere handful of bees. As soon as 

 the weather was favorable I divided the large colony, 

 intending to give the queenless half to the small Italian 



